Hello, my name is Alessa Bergløff and I'm 38 years old and currently living in Brazil. I am a native Portuguese - Brazil speaker and teach Portuguese - Brazil. I have been an online English teacher with Verbalplanet.com since February 2013.
I can speak the following languages fluently: Portuguese - Brazil, English, Norwegian, Spanish.
I am currently offering a free initial trial lesson for new students.

Detailed Profile in English

About me

I am fascinated by languages, as a consequence I love teaching them. I am originally from Brazil, but lived in Norway for 5 years, and that's how I learned Norwegian. I decided to move back to Brazil at the end of 2012. I miss Norway but I have to confess : I am too fond of sun and beach. :)

Qualifications & Experience

I graduated in the course Letras inglês/ português ( Languages English/ Portuguese) at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. The course lasts 4 years. I finished in 2007. Among other disciplines I studied: techniques to write texts, didactic, semantics, syntax, phonetics, phonology, linguistics, literature and psychology. I graduated with an overall score 8.0 on a scale from 0.0 to 10.0.

I lived in Norway for 5 years, worked and studied Norwegian there. I passed on the exam Norwegian test – higher level ( test I norsk- høyere nivå) and Norwegian test 3 ( norsk prøve 3).

I taught English for 4 years in a small school in Natal/ Brazil, after that I worked in Senac (Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial/ National Services of Commercial Learning), teaching English for 3 years.

In Norway I worked as a social worker in the biggest social services company of the country - NAV, where I participated of a project called New chance ( ny sjanse) teaching English and computer skills to Somali women.

After some time I started to work as a Portuguese teacher at Folkeuniversitetet Øst, it lasted 2 years because I decided to move back to Brazil. At Folkeuniversitetet I started with few students and after a little while I got more and more students. I noticed that they were quite satisfied with my didactic and passed the good news around. At this school I took the IELTS test and got an overall band score 6.5.

While working as a Portuguese teacher I was also part of a great social team at the community I used to live. I helped Afghan teenagers, providing support with homework, making food to them, etc… It was a great job.

Now that I am back in my hometown Natal in Brazil and I have been teaching English at a local school.

I have been teaching English and Portuguese online since March 2013. It has been a very interesting experience. Now I know many nice people from different parts of the world. I am glad I have started teaching through Verbal Planet.

Teaching Approach

I am more experienced teaching adults ( more than 10 years experience) .

My students often say that my classes are cool, that they learn a lot while they are having fun.

As an online teacher I have used Word, updated texts to stimulate talks, Youtube, music, and more recently Google Drive. I always look for new ways to create an attractive lesson, also working with regular well-known exercises. I try to balance different methods according to the students necessities.

Communicative Approach is my favorite method where I can create a nice environment and make students comfortable to simulate real life experiences during the class.

well, i've had my second lesson and i can't wait for more, Alessa is very patient and most of all she knows what she is doing, i don't know why i didn't do this earlier.im having a blast!!!

15 Mar 2018
By : pascalcbodin
Subject : Portuguese - Brazil

Alessa is an amazing tutor, very professional with her own style of teaching not in a classical way but definitely more fun and dynamic. I proudly recommend Alessa to anyone who wants to learn beyond barsilian portuguese.

08 Aug 2017
By : fcortina
Subject : Portuguese - Brazil

Very personable and friendly. Enjoyed the lesson.

28 Jun 2017
By : Miloline22
Subject : Portuguese - Brazil

Really clear, very understanding and alessa is able to present the work in a way that's really easy to interpret!